Midwest Regional Rocket League Finals Air on Saturday, 8/12 on NBC Sports

NBC Sports Group and FACEIT's Universal Open Rocket Leagueesports tournament continues this weekend with coverage across the NBC Sports Regional Networks, NBCSports.com, the NBC Sports app, and Twitch, with presentations of the Midwest and West Regionals. The Midwest Regional will take place this Saturday, August 12, at CSN Chicago studios, followed by the West Regional at NBC Sports Bay Area studios on Sunday, August 13.

Universal Open Rocket League is a 2v2 tournament featuring Rocket League, the sports-action hit with a community of more than 34 million players, developed and published by San Diego-based game studio, Psyonix. The tournament utilizes FACEIT's competitive gaming platform, and numerous NBCUniversal and Comcast regional, national and international assets.

All four-and-a-half hours of each Regional will be livestreamed via NBCSports.com, the NBC Sports app, and Twitch, with the final hour of each Regional televised on all eight NBC Sports Regional Networks. Streaming coverage of the Midwest Regional begins Saturday at 12:30 p.m. ET, followed by streaming coverage of the West Regional on Sunday at 1:30 p.m. ET.

The tournament began with Qualifiers organized geographically by the NBC Sports Regional Networks, as well as a U.S. Open Qualifier, followed by the East and Northeast Regionals last weekend. Eight teams have already qualified for the Grand Finals on August 26-27 at Esports Arena in Santa Ana, Calif., which will be televised live on NBCSN. Below are the teams which have already qualified for the Grand Finals:

• U.S. Open Regional - Genesis, It's Lit, Wabi-Sabi and Incognit0
• East Regional - G2A and G2B
• Northeast Regional - ASCENSION and Cloud9

The structure for the Regionals features five-minute games in a best-of-three and best-of-five format. Two additional teams will advance from each of the Midwest and West Regionals, as well as four teams from the European Invitational to round out the field for the Grand Finals. Tickets for the Grand Finals are now available for $15 for one day passes or $25 for weekend passes. Click here for information on tickets.

MIDWEST REGIONAL - SATURDAY, AUGUST 12, AT CSN CHICAGO STUDIOS

The Universal Open Rocket League Midwest Regional is comprised of the top eight teams from the Chicago Qualifier that took place last month. Below are the teams and competitors slated to compete in Chicago:

• DapG: Chris Mendoza (Dappuh), Garrett Gordon (GarrettG)
• Hype Gaming: Travis Longsine (BorkBorklon), Andy Adkins (SawySeal)
• Ninja Dinosaurs: Sean Gschwind (Gschwind), Ryan Keith (FinessE-)
• VnD: Braden Schenetzki (Pluto), Jaime Bickford (Karma)
• Colors: Ajay Basnyat (Aj16ay), Jacob Kidston (KingWizard11)
• Ethereal: Jon Tschida (Familiar Leaf), Jake Middaugh (Mayhem)
• Runaway: Daniel Gamer (Laz), Trent Wieland (Cargo 85)
• Mechanical Gaming: Jalen Parker (Rapid), Isaiah Sharrieff (Zay dop)

Below is a full telecast schedule across NBC Sports Regional Networks for the Midwest Regional:

MIDWEST REGIONAL - SATURDAY, AUG.12
NETWORK	TIME (Local)
CSN Northwest	1 p.m.
CSN Chicago	3 p.m.
CSN New England	4 p.m.
CSN Mid-Atlantic	4 p.m.
CSN Philadelphia	4 p.m.
NBC Sports California	4 p.m.
NBC Sports Bay Area	8 p.m.*
SNY	8:30 p.m.*

*denotes same-day delay

WEST REGIONAL - SUNDAY, AUGUST 13, NBC SPORTS BAY AREA STUDIOS IN SAN FRANCISCO

The Universal Open Rocket League West Regional is comprised of the top four teams each from the Northwest and Bay Area Qualifiers. Below are the teams slated to compete this weekend in San Francisco:

• Fibeon: Hayden Balsys (HAT0), Reed Wilen (ChicagoRL)
• StDx Myth: Eric Rios (HalcyonRL), Brandon Lachin (Lachinio)
• Rogue: Matt Dixon (Matt), TBD
• SizzleUrCob: Emiliano Benny (Sizz), Jacob McDowell (Jacob)
• Sloth: Payton Notman (Perched Peach), Davis Pease (PreM)
• Team Finesse: Scott O'Brien (Kazoo), Matt Engler (BloodSpree)
• Uncreative: X X (Workss), Aidan Hannigan (Replitz)

FACEIT will host a West Regional Last Chance Qualifier on Thursday at 9 p.m. ET due to a team forfeit. All teams that have yet to qualify are eligible to compete for the final spot. Click here to register for the West Regional Last Chance Qualifier.

Below is a full telecast schedule across NBC Sports Regional Networks for the West Regional:

WEST REGIONAL - SUNDAY, AUG. 13
NETWORK	TIME (Local)
NBC Sports Bay Area	2 p.m.
CSN Northwest	2 p.m.
CSN Chicago	4 p.m.
CSN Philadelphia	5 p.m.
SNY	5 p.m.
CSN New England	5 p.m.
CSN Mid-Atlantic	5 p.m.
NBC Sports California	5 p.m.*

*denotes same-day delay

COMMENTARY TEAMS FOR UNIVERSAL OPEN ROCKET LEAGUE ANNOUNCED

Kevin Knocke hosts NBC Sports Group's Universal Open Rocket League coverage at all Regionals and through the Grand Finals. Knocke has been a host, caster, and producer in the esports community since 2010.

Caleb Simmons (WavePunk), Michael Behrouzi (Quinn), Alex Rodriguez (AxelToss) Jack Collier, Joey Ahrens, James Villar, and Michael Jenkins will combine to provide commentary for NBC Sports Group's Universal Open Rocket League telecasts. Below are the commentary teams for this weekend's Regionals:

• Midwest Regional - Kevin Knocke (host), Caleb Simmons (caster/analyst), Michael Behrouzi (caster/analyst), and Michael Jenkins (reporter)
• West Regional - Kevin Knocke (host), Caleb Simmons (caster/analyst), Michael Behrouzi (caster/analyst), and Alex Rodriguez (reporter)

ABOUT NBC SPORTS GROUP

When the Comcast-NBCUniversal transaction was completed in January 2011, the sports assets of the two companies combined to form NBC Sports Group, which serves sports fans 24/7 with premier live events, insightful studio shows, and compelling original programming. The sports media company consists of NBC Sports, NBC Olympics, NBCSN, Golf Channel, NBC Sports Regional Networks, NBC Sports Radio and NBC Sports Digital, which includes NBCSports.com, NBCOlympics.com, GolfChannel.com, the digital assets of the NBC Sports Regional Networks, Rotoworld, the NBC Sports Talk franchise, multiple apps, and two transactional sports businesses, GolfNow and SportsEngine. NBC Sports Group possesses an unparalleled collection of television rights agreements, partnering with some of the most prestigious sports properties in the world: the International Olympic Committee and United States Olympic Committee, the NFL, NHL, NASCAR, PGA TOUR, The R&A, PGA of America, Churchill Downs, Premier League, Tour de France, French Open, Formula One, INDYCAR and many more.

ABOUT FACEIT

FACEIT is the leading competitive platform for online multiplayer games, with more than 7 million users competing in over 12 million online game sessions each month. FACEIT allows players to easily play in tournaments and leagues for virtual and real-world prizes through automated tournament management and matchmaking technology. For developers, FACEIT's advanced software development kit (SDK) allows game creators to easily integrate user-friendly competitions into their titles to allow gamers to organize and take part in online games at all skill levels. esports organizers, players and communities use FACEIT to create and manage online competitions. For more information on FACEIT, please visit www.faceit.com.

ABOUT TWITCH

Twitch is the world's leading social video platform and community for gamers. Each day, millions of community members gather to watch, talk, and chat about shared interests. Twitch's video platform is the backbone of both live and on-demand distribution for all types of content, including the entire video game ecosystem, the creative arts, vlogging (IRL), and more. Twitch also runs TwitchCon, the annual convention for celebrating the Twitch community. For more information about Twitch, visit our Press Center, Twitter feed (#Twitch), and Blog.

ABOUT PSYONIX

Based in San Diego, CA, Psyonix is a critically-acclaimed independent video game developer and leading experts in UNREAL Engine technology. For more than 15 years, the studio has been a driving force behind some of the most successful games in the industry, including Gears of War, Mass Effect 3, XCOM: Enemy Unknown, Bulletstorm, UNREAL Tournament III, UNREAL Tournament 2004, and the award-winning Sports-Action hit, Rocket League®.

ABOUT ROCKET LEAGUE®

Winner or nominee of more than 150 "Game of the Year" awards, Rocket League is one of the most critically-acclaimed sports games of our generation. Boasting a community of more than 34 million players, Rocket League is a high-powered hybrid of arcade-style soccer and vehicular mayhem with easy-to-understand controls and fluid, physics-driven competition. Available digitally on Xbox One, PlayStation®4 computer entertainment system, and Windows PC, Mac, and SteamOS via Steam, Rocket League includes more than 100 billion possible customization combinations, a fully-featured offline season mode, multiple game types, casual and competitive online matches, and special "Mutators" that let you change the rules entirely.

To learn more about Rocket League, please visit www.RocketLeague.com, "Like" it on Facebook, and follow it on Twitter @RocketLeague for all the latest developer updates and news.

Image courtesy of NBC.

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